Last century, X10 was synonymous with affordable home control. This century's de facto control standard for the mainstream market has yet to be crowned, but various home-control platforms are vying for bragging rights. Some use power lines, some use the Internet protocol, and others operate over the radio spectrum. In fact, the home of the future may use a combination of pipelines and languages.
As appliances and other household devices become more feature-rich—with the ability to communicate their operating status and coordinate with other devices—the need for simple and reliable control will be as important to tomorrow's home as structured wiring or Internet access.
allied approachFew companies are in a position to go it alone, and most have realized that the best way to ensure compatibility and longevity with networked products is to join an alliance of established (and related) companies. Even LG Electronics, which has been developing a networking system called LG HomNet in South Korea based on a proprietary communications protocol, has abandoned plans to work independently. While the company continues to hammer away at the upscale appliance market in the United States, it has opened its once-proprietary control protocol to other companies. LG HomNet is currently installed in two controlled communities in South Korea and China. Plans for the U.S. market haven't been announced.
In the United States, Z-Wave and In2 Networks hope to become household names in home control. Both alliances are in the process of amassing rosters of star players looking to ride the next wave of mainstream home automation for control of lighting, HVAC, appliances, security, and other low-bandwidth command-and-control applications.
Leviton, Intermatic, and Honeywell are among the 100-plus companies that have joined the Z-Wave Alliance, which is headed by Z-Wave developer Zensys, based in Upper Saddle River, N.J. Z-Wave is a wireless, radio frequency-based (RF) protocol that operates in the 906 MHz spectrum of the radio band.
Intermatic's HomeSettings lighting and appliance controls use Z-Wave radio frequency technology, so no wiring is needed. The modules and in-wall devices can be operated with a single remote control.
Leviton, a longtime proponent of X10 technology, will have Z-Wave products available by year's end. “Z-Wave offers us an inexpensive and robust way—we can put it in $15 light switches—of doing home command and control without any new wires,” says Mark Walters, director of business development at Leviton.
In a Z-Wave network, each device talks to its neighbor over a low-power RF link. The more devices, the stronger and more fault-tolerant the network becomes. “If device A in the kitchen can talk to device B in the living room, they talk to each other directly,” Walters says. “If there's interference between A and B, A could talk to device C in the upstairs bedroom, forming a reconfigurable mesh network.” Z-Wave is more robust than X10, Walters says, because it's self-healing.
“X10 is good because it's inexpensive, and many manufacturers offer products that use that protocol,” says Walters, but Z-Wave offers many of the benefits of X10 while overcoming some of the drawbacks. For example, “Since Z-Wave doesn't use the power line as the carrier, it's not susceptible to some of the AC interference problems associated with X10,” he says. With X10, on the other hand, “You could bring home a new cell-phone charger, plug it in, and take your whole house out. Z-Wave operates at a much faster communication rate, and it's truly two-way.”
Zensys says Z-Wave technology typically adds 10 percent to 20 percent to the cost of a device, and that a standard home can be outfitted with basic controls for less than $1,000. Z-Wave adherents hope the technology will have the same kind of reach as X10 but offer more reliable performance.
In addition to lighting and pool control, the Zensys vision for Z-Wave encompasses control of temperature, the entry, home entertainment, garage doors, window coverings, smoke detectors, and other household devices.
web wonderIn2 Networks, a Salt Lake City-based technology and software development company with roots in the PHAST home-control system (purchased several years ago by AMX Corp.), is taking a different approach to home control. Its In2 technology operates by Ethernet, leveraging the power and breadth of the Internet for control of home devices. In2 uses TCP/IP, an alternative to power-line and wireless technology for packaging information and sending it throughout the house.
In2 defines the technology as “connect and control.” According to In2 Co-Founder Daren Orth, “We are connecting existing subsystems that you already have in the house and controlling them under a single point.” That single point could be a PC or a PDA.
“In less than a decade, the Internet connected virtually all of the world's computers,” says Jamey Johnston, vice president of sales and marketing for In2. “In2 Networks is connecting devices other than computers to that same type of network.” The hope is to ride the coattails of the 61 percent of new homes with structured wiring since an In2 network operates over Ethernet and Category-5 cable.
Rather than amass a large following of licensees, In2's strategy is to partner with what it calls “best of breed” suppliers according to market share and reputation in each field of residential subsystem. The goal is to offer more affordable home control as an alternative to proprietary systems such as those from AMX and Crestron Electronics.
“AMX and Crestron charge $50,000 to $100,000 or more for their custom applications,” Johnston says. In2 believes that many upscale customers want to buy subsystems from acknowledged industry leaders, so the company has partnered with Honeywell for HVAC and security, Lutron Electronics for lighting control, and Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) for audio and video gear. The company will continue to add suppliers for other residential subsystems.
Rolling out over the course of this year, In2 products will be sold by existing Honeywell, Lutron, and B&W dealers, who will handle support for the products they supply and install. Each In2-compatible device includes a 2-inch-by-2-inch piece of hardware that connects to the network as a computer would connect to a network. In2 software provides bidirectional status and control of audio volume, lights, temperature, and so forth from any networked computer or In2-based Web tablet in the house.
In addition to control, an In2 system can provide interoperability. When a security alarm is triggered, for example, the lights could activate at 30 percent power to help light a pathway out of the house.
In2 says the additional cost for control of an In2 HVAC, lighting, or security system is typically 10 percent of the cost of the subsystem. “In an In2 network, the cost of the furnace doesn't change,” Johnston says. A $5,000 to $8,000 HVAC system would typically require a $500 smart thermostat and Internet-control module for In2 compatibility. A starter In2-compatible Lutron RadioRA lighting-control system runs $2,000.
“We've tried to future-proof the control element of PCs by staying with a very common platform,” Johnston says. “We believe that HTML and the Internet are here to stay. If homeowners change their PC devices, their control systems will not become obsolete.”
Rebecca Day specializes in writing about home electronics. She can be reached at customhomerd@aol.com. A version of this article originally appeared in residential architect's sister publication CUSTOM HOME.